3 Easy Salsas: Green, Yellow and Red

I adore salsa, and I’ll take it any color I can find it. Any texture, too: thick, thin, chunky, smooth — it’s all good to me. I use my food processor to puree (or almost-puree) each one, but you can certainly toss together the ingredients by hand for a chunkier version.

Use these recipes as a template to create your own salsas. They’re great not only as dips but also as fresh, colorful and nutritious toppings for chicken, fish, steak, and pork tenderloin. I’ve also used pureed salsas to marinate chicken, steak and pork chops.

A few tips to get you started:

• Always stick with fresh ingredients, from the tomatoes to the onions, the herbs, garlic, and citrus juice (remember, this is a fresh addition to your menu).
• Try fresh lemon, orange or grapefruit juice instead of lime juice.
• Mix up onion varieties; shallots, chives and green onions work well.
• Make salsas up to 24 hours in advance to let flavors marry (and even hit the honeymoon phase).
• Vary the heat with different chiles; jalapenos make a medium salsa while habaneros can be HOT.
• Fruit salsas are fabulous; instead of tomatoes, substitute diced peaches, nectarines or mango.